Wednesday, April 02, 2008

I constantly hear from my girlfriend and other people, that the way I go about handling certain situations leaves much to be desired. I usually like to take the Ludacris method of getting things accomplished, when in reality, the Otis Redding method is much more effective and less confrontational. So this morning, when I was faced with a bit of a situation, I kept this in mind.

I was running a bit late this morning, so instead of walking to work, I had to take train, which is really no big deal. The train wasn't too crowded, so I stepped in and stood in my normal spot by the door for my two-stop ride. One the first stop, this gentlemen got on the train, and stood WAY too close to me, considering the emptiness of the train. And then on top of that, he raised his arm to hold on to the rail, and his armpits were right in my face. Now I suppose I could have just shut up and take it for 2 more minutes until I got off the train. But to me, having armpits in the face, is just downright disrespectful; however, I was careful not to say anything smart to this man. So I said, "excuse me sir, would you mind backing up a little bit your armpits are right in my face." And he looked at me and said, "dude, i only have one more stop, and I need to hold on, just chill out". Now, at this point, I am wishing that all you people who tell me I handle things wrong, were right there with me. I could have dealt with everything he said, but the "just chill out" portion of the sentence pissed me off, especially since nothing about me was angry. So I said nothing until I got to my stop, and politely let him get off the train first, and then I followed behind, and we went up the escalator, and when we came off, I "accidentally" tripped his ass. He didn't fall, but he did stumble a bit, and he whipped his head around, and said, "Dude what's your deal?". That phrase is an inside joke with my lady and I, so I wanted to laugh, but I had to keep my composure, so I did, and I said, "I"m sorry man, it was an accident, chill out". He looked like he wanted to say something else, but he didn't, and we went our separate ways.